A Thousand Years
by Kitsune no Miko
Summary: Chichiri reincarnation songfic to "A Thousand Years" - C&C needed!


A Thousand Years

A Thousand Years

_~a Chichiri songfic~_

_ _

Author's Notes: Chichiri reincarnation (alternate universe) fic, to "A Thousand Years" by Sting. 

__________

Events were already in place, and the insistent inner voice kept

asking him the same questions. Ri Houjun, an average Japanese student

and university hopeful, had always found himself locked in a mental

contest between two personalities, it seemed, that existed within.

_A thousand years, a thousand more_

_A thousand times, a million doors to eternity_

_I may have lived a thousand lives, a thousand times_

_An endless turning stairway climbs_

_To a tower of souls_

Post-it notes lay scattered across his desk. Homework assignments,

cram school assignments, activities, plans, and always right in front

of him was one that read "Hikou & Kouran's engagement".

The events - fluid dreams, half-memories, and a insistent whisper:

*This happened before, Houjun. Don't you remember?*

_If it takes another thousand years, a thousand wars,_

_The towers rise to numberless floors in space_

_I could shed another million tears, a million breaths,_

_A million names but only one truth to face_

Ri Houjun knew he doodled. If he wasn't thinking, he would draw the

"well" kanji, either alone or accompanied by other characters.

He talked in his sleep too - Hikou had told him so years ago - and

this was accompanied by odd dreams of a wandering helpful mage that

looked like something from a shoujo manga. He would say the name

"Suzaku" at the strangest times, leaving others to stare as he

apologized profusely.

There was Hikou. And Kouran.

_A million roads, a million fears_

_A million suns, ten million years of uncertainty_

_I could speak a million lies, a million songs,_

_A million rights, a million wrongs in this balance of time_

*History repeats itself.* That calm inner whisper.

He couldn't help but be happy for Hikou - the three of

them had been friends since childhood, had grown up

together, and now his own best friend was getting married.

But every time he saw Hikou and Kouran together -

Water

fear

anger

blood

water

pain

loss ~

_But if there was a single truth, a single light_

_A single thought, a singular touch of grace_

_Then following this single point, this single flame_

_This single haunted memory of your face___

*Kouran was yours, used to be yours, remember Chichiri?

Remember how you loved her back then?*

_I still love you_

_I still want you_

_A thousand times the mysteries unfold themselves_

_Like galaxies in my head_

He remembered. It hurt.

But he remembered.

He was not only Ri Houjun, the student trying to get in

a university, any one at all; he was also Chichiri, that wandering mage,

whose fate was to be a Suzaku shichiseishi in the land of Konan. Whom

fate deemed should suffer the same chain of events, time after time

after time~

The full force of the inner voice shouted memories to his mind, and

he had no choice but to let it come. He had loved Kouran. In years

past, Houjun - for his identity as Chichiri came afterward - had loved

Kouran with all his heart.

_I may be numberless, I may be innocent_

_I may know many things, I may be ignorant_

_Or I could ride with kings and conquer many lands_

_Or win this world at cards and let it slip my hands_

_I could be cannon food, destroyed many times_

_Reborn as fortune's child to judge another's crimes_

_Or wear this pilgrim's cloak, or be a common thief_

_I've kept this single faith, I have but one belief_

"Hikou.... Kouran...."

Water

fear

anger

blood

water

pain

loss

*No! That won't happen this time! They're engaged, they're happy!

THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN!*

He could not escape his bloody past. It had caught up with him,

the fight that had led to Hikou's death in the flood. The same flood

that had claimed Kouran and his own family.

Maybe they had ideas of the truth as well.

If he - so long ago, the

Houjun back then - had realized Hikou and Kouran were MEANT for each

other, then none of it would have happened. Then he wouldn't be cast

in the role Hikou had played back then.

Even so ~

_I still love you_

_I still want you_

_A thousand times these mysteries unfold themselves_

_Like galaxies in my head_

Houjun slumped in his chair. "That... will not happen again..."

*Even if... even if I must make sure Hikou and Kouran are happy

together. I cannot do what Hikou did before, I will not do that to

them.... I swear it...*

_On and on the mysteries unfold themselves_

_Eternities still unsaid_

_'Til you love me_

But there was always the future....


End file.
